20-Minute Tabbouleh with Chicken

This simple recipe is all prep. In fact, if you don't want to cook a single thing all you have to do is substitute the chicken I use with a store-bought rotisserie chicken. This would leave you with only having to heat a cup of water to a boil, remove from heat and add the bulgar wheat to thicken. Beyond that, all you have to do is chop, chop some more and keep chopping until you finish a few simple dashes of spice and some crumbled feta cheese. Easy.

The best part is that this meal is really, really good. It's the perfect summer meal or dieting meal. There is so little to it that all you have to do is make sure you wrote down all the ingredients before making a trip to the market.

Here is the recipe using boneless-skinless chicken breasts. Like I said above you could substitute the chicken with a rotisserie store-bought and avoid cooking altogether.

Chicken and Feta Tabbouleh
Serves 4

3/4 cup uncooked bulgar
1 cup boiling water
2 cups shredded chicken breast, skinless boneless
1 cup chopped plum tomato
1 cup chopped cucumber
3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup (2 oz) crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (or 2 chopped cloves)
1/2 teaspons ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Place bulgar in a medium bowl; cover with 1 cup of boiling water. Let stand for 15 mintues or until liquid is absorbed.

Slice chicken into bit-sized chunks and saute in a pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat cooking and turning for about 8 mintues. Remove from pan and set aside.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add bulgar to mixture and toss gently to combine. Spoon out mixture on plates and top with chicken.

Mediterranean Turkey Burgers

The idea of a burger made from anything not red kind of repulsed me until today. Sure I’ve had garden burgers, but they always leave something to be desired like, oh I don’t know, animal? Recently, there has been a bit of a movement for turkey burgers as an alternative to beef hamburgers.

It wasn’t until this weekend that my wife found a recipe that looked appealing. Why? Because we both agreed it was a recipe that didn’t try to replicate a traditional burger with bun, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onion and tomato but was made with ground turkey. Why not just make beef burgers if you are going to do that? Instead this recipe uses pita bread, tzatziki and arugula. It looked refreshing and fit well with a lighter meat.

Mediterranean Turkey Burgers
Serves 4

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/4 cup (1 oz) crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon minced red onion
2 tablespoons commercial pesto
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups arugula or mixed greens
4 pitas, toasted and halved

Tzatiki:
1/2 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely chopped, seeded cucumber
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a bowl; mix until combined. Divide mixture and shape into four patties about 1/2-inch thick.

Mix Tzatiki ingredients by combining all into a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat grill and add patties cooking about 6 minutes on each side until done.

Slice patties and pita bread in half. Stuff pitas with Tzatiki sauce, arugula, and turkey patty. Serve.

Jamaican Chicken Curry

I can hardly believe it's been two months since my last post. It must be a busy summer. Fortunately, this week I decided to catch-up on some cooking magazine reading and ventured into Martha’s Food magazine that has an excellent stew recipe in its May 2009 issue.

The following recipe has some “kick, but just enough to make it intense, yet not insane” as my wife said while we enjoyed a couple plates. Three tablespoons of Indian curry did the trick (the recipe calls for Jamaican curry but I only some hot curry powder from a local Indian market.) Also, I went with organic frozen peas that I think add a nice sweet flavor to the dish. We also spent the morning at the local Farmer’s Market and picked up some great onions, carrots and garlic – all perfect for this recipe. The carrots were like butter.

Jamaican Chicken Curry
Serves 4

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized chunks
coarse salt and pepper
1 medium onion, rough chop
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried
4 carrots, bite-sized sliced at an angle
1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
1 cup water
1 package (10 oz) frozen peas
Cooked rice for serving

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in two batches, brown the chicken, 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, cumin, curry, thyme and 1/2 cup water and season with pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion has softened, 3-5 minutes.

Add carrots, frozen peas, coconut milk, 1/2 cup water and chicken with any accumulated juices. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover partially, and cook until chicken is cooked through and carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve over rice.

Cinco de Mayo Enchiladas

I know it's May 9, but that's because I'm behind writing this. We did enjoy these excellent enchiladas last Tuesday.

I'm including the best way to make these with the two recipes below. Making homemade salsa verde takes this recipe to a 9 out of 10. You can use store-bought salsa verde but that brings the recipe to a 7 out of 10, still good but not amazing.

Swiss Enchiladas
Serves 4

For the sauce
2 cups of Salsa Verde (see recipe below)
1/2 cup heavy cream

12 6-inch Corn Tortillas
1/4 cup canola oil
4 cups of shredded store-bought rotisserie chicken

For the toping
1 cup shredded queso Chihuahua
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 375.
Make the sauce: Pour the salsa verde and cream into a saucepan and simmer over low heat.

To soften store-bought tortillas: Heat canola oil in sauté pan on medium-high heat. Place a tortilla in the hot oil and quickly turn to heat both sides, about 10 seconds per tortilla. Put on paper towel to soak up oil.

Fill and roll each tortilla with 1/3 cup of chicken in each tortilla. Rollup and place in 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Keep doing until you fill baking dish.

Pour the salsa verde sauce mixture over the enchiladas. Jiggle the dish so the sauce settles in the between the enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese evenly over the top. Bake until sauce around edges bubbles and the cheese is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Scatter the onions and cilantro over enchiladas. Serve with plenty of sauce on each plate.

Salsa Verde
Makes 2 cups

2 pounds Tomatillos, husked and washed
2 jalapenos
3 small garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 bunch cilantro, thick bottom stems removed, the remainder washed and shaken dry
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste

Put the tomatillos and jalapenos in a saucepan, pour in enough cold water to barely cover and bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit in water for 15 minutes.

Drain the tomatillos and chiles in a colander. Wipe out the saucepan and set aside. Put the tomatillos, jalapenos, garlic and cumin in a food processor. Blend for a few seconds, until tomatillos are coarsely chopped. Add the cilantro and blend until sauce is smooth and speckled with finely chopped cilantro. Do not overblend, make the sauce thick and shiny.

Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat. Pour in the salsa, bring to a simmer until lightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Sauce can be refrigerated for 3 days or freeze. Reheat on low heat before using.

Truffled Gnocchi with Peas and Chanterelles

"Truffled" is used loosely in this case. There are no truffles at all in this recipe, Chanterelles in fact, but I couldn't find them and went with a mixed gourmet mushroom package from Papa Joes grocery. It turned out fantastic, even without the better mushroom choice; though, I'm still looking forward to trying it with Chanterelles.

The best part is it only took 10 minutes to make this meal.


Truffled Gnocchi with Peas and Chanterelles
Serves 4

1 lb. Potato gnocchi
2 tbsp. Extra-virgin olive oil
10 oz. Chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
2 tsp. Finely chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. Finely chopped chives
Freshly grated Parmesan

Cook potato gnocchi according to package directions.

Bring a 12” skillet over medium-high heat to high; add cream, peas, mushrooms, and thyme and cook. Stirring occasionally, until cream reduces by half. Season mushroom sauce with salt and pepper and remove skillet from heat. Add drained, gnocchi pasta to sauce pan and turn to coat, turning down heat to low. Plate pasta and sauce. Sprinkle parmesan and chives on top to serve.

Stuffed Savory Chicken Duxelles

You learn something new every day. Apparently, my lesson for Tuesday April 14th wasn't oh shit I better print and sign my taxes, it was what "Duxelles" means. Duxelles is a thick paste of mushrooms, shallots and herbs. See how simple that lesson was.

The recipe was pretty simple and provided a nice alternative from my typical breadcrumb, cheese and spinach stuffing. The white wine in the stuffing reduction provides some nice, subtle flavor to the meat too.


Chicken Stuffed with Savory Duxelles
Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 shallot, peeled and minced
1 lb. White button mushrooms, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 whole boneless chicken breasts with skin, split

Heat oven to 400°. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add garlic and shallot; sauté, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms; cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their juices, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add white wine, and continue cooking until liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the parsley.

Pull skin back from one chicken breast, keeping skin attached at one end. Season with salt and pepper. Mound 1/3 cup mushroom filling on breast; pull back over filling. Tuck ends under breast, forming a ball. Secure with toothpicks. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts. Return chicken to sauté pan and brown for about five minutes, turning to brown evenly.

Place stuffed breasts in a roasting pan, keeping them close together but not touching. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over top. Transfter to oven; roast until skin is golden brown and chicken has cooked through, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Simple and Lighter Chicken with Biscuits (really)

I love it when I get an email in the middle of my work day saying, "Can you make this?" Stephanie occasionally will find a recipe she would like to try and knows I love a challenge. This recipe wasn't much of a challenge, though. In fact, it ended up being a pleasantly simple recipe that only took 20 minutes to make.

I used frozen biscuits from Trader Joe's to accompany the chicken dish; instead, of doing homemade biscuits. Note: you can find the full recipe with homemade biscuits here at Martha Stewart's website.

Lighter Chicken and Biscuits
Serves 4

2 teaspoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
1/2 cup low-fat (1 percent) milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 carrots, thinly sliced
5 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 box (10 ounces) frozen pearl onions, thawed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

Prepare frozen biscuits according to package instructions or have fresh biscuits ready.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or large heavy pot, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, and onions; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, 7 to 10 minutes.

Sprinkle vegetables with remaining 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; stir in remaining 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, and thyme. Simmer until liquid is thickened, stirring occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken; simmer until cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve chicken stew with biscuits.